I Can Soon Add Dairy Back!?!?

[LoveBeingATwin]

I was just looking at my calendar and realised that I have been gluten free for almost five months. WOW! Each day I get better and I feel better. However, I am looking forward to trying to introduce dairy back into my diet. That is a staple I REALLY miss. I won't try anything until the end of June.

I wanted to know how I should go about doing this? Is six months even long enough? I stoped eating diry because of my constant D. I guess the only thing that could go wrong is having the annoying D again. No fun though. How should I do this, talking about adding dairy!!ha...ha... Could I try a small amount of milk and see? That would be what I would want to try first.

I also wanted to know, for those long time celiacs, do you recommend another check up after 6 months? My doctor was mentioning something of that nature to do. Would they do another biopsy? I just want to make sure that I am healing internally. I feel good on the outside.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[ravenwoodglass]

When you first try and add dairy back in the best things to add are hard cheese like cheddar and yogurt. These are kind of 'predigested' and will be easier for your body to handle. DO NOT start right off with a glass of milk or ice cream, your body has not been making the enzemye you need to digest dairy for a while now. You want to gently reintroduce it. Be aware that if you have a problem with casein you may feel sort of 'gluteny' 3 to 5 days after you reintroduce, do not add any other suspect foods at that time. Only eat stuff you know for sure is gluten-free so if that type of reaction should occur it will be easier to link to casein not CC.

Good luck, I thought I was dairy intolerant for years, and years. I now consume even the richest gluten free ice cream with no after effects. I hope you have good luck also adding it back in.

At six months my doctor had me go to the lab and get a blood draw to check my B12, iron, etc. If I had shown up positive on bloodwork prediagnosis he would have reordered that to see if my levels had gone down. When to do another endo is another question. 2 years is often the time to recheck that if you choose.

[annie-is-GF]

I have a question about all this dairy business... is it lactose intolerance causing the dairy issue or is it something else? I keep hearing about casein sensitivity and I'm not sure I totally understand what casein is or why celiacs can be sensitive to it.

I can't handle dairy either, and I think that for me it is lactose intolerance... I know it's bad, but I take lactaid pills before eating dairy and I feel fine.... It's bad because I was diagnosed with celiac disease just about a month ago and I really should just be avoiding anything that sets me off like the plague... and I should be sticking to the basics :S

Anyway, can someone fill me in on this casein business?

[hathor]

I have a question about all this dairy business... is it lactose intolerance causing the dairy issue or is it something else? I keep hearing about casein sensitivity and I'm not sure I totally understand what casein is or why celiacs can be sensitive to it.

I can't handle dairy either, and I think that for me it is lactose intolerance... I know it's bad, but I take lactaid pills before eating dairy and I feel fine.... It's bad because I was diagnosed with celiac disease just about a month ago and I really should just be avoiding anything that sets me off like the plague... and I should be sticking to the basics :S

Anyway, can someone fill me in on this casein business?

Lactose is milk sugar, which some have problems digesting. If villi are damaged, they can't do what they have to do to absorb this. This is why some celiacs, after a certain amount of time gluten free & thus with healed villi, find they can handle lactose again.

Casein is a milk protein, to which some have an immune response. Casein is a "gluey" sort of protein, as is gluten, soy and to a lesser extent corn, so it can affect one's intestine too -- at least this is what I've read from some sources.

If you wonder if you react to casein, you could try eliminating it and see if you feel better. I had problems believing my Enterolab result about soy, since I never noticed a reaction. But then I cut soy out & felt better. You could get the Enterolab casein test, too, if you want something more official.

What the Enterolab web site says:

"Research showing a high association of antibodies to cow's milk proteins in people who react similarly to gluten has been around for over 40 years. More recent research has now confirmed that these reactions to cow's milk proteins (mainly casein but also lactalbumin, lactoglobulin, and bovine serum albumin) are indeed epidemiologically related to autoimmune diseases such as diabetes, psoriasis, eczema, and asthma, among others. While formal studies of dairy-free diets, either alone or in combination with gluten-free, have not yet been conducted on a wide scale, the idea of a gluten-free/casein-free diet is not new, having been employed for decades by many health practitioners. From my objective assessment of this field, and my personal experience with my own dietary elimination for health, I recommend complete avoidance of all dairy products in anyone found to be immunologically sensitive to cow's milk protein by our tests, and anyone with an established autoimmune or chronic immune disease. I predict future research will support this recommendation. Do not bury your head in the sand waiting for such studies. Do your own study and go gluten-free/dairy-free."

[annie-is-GF]

Thanks for the quick, thorough responce ... I dread the thought of being "intolerant" to yet another thing, but if it makes me feel better in the end it just might be worth avoiding.

[hathor]

I dread the thought of being "intolerant" to yet another thing ...

I know the feeling. I've felt glad that Enterolab doesn't test for more things, since I reacted to everything. Made me regret ordering that additional test of egg, soy, & yeast -- I anticipated just confirming I had a problem with egg and they threw me for a loop with the other two.